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News, information and research from Boston UniversityWed, 21 Sep 2011 18:14:24 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.12Cameron new British P.M.http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/11/cameron-new-british-p-m/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/11/cameron-new-british-p-m/#commentsTue, 11 May 2010 23:20:44 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=5519Conservative Party leader David Cameron is the new British Prime Minister — at 43, the youngest in nearly 200 years. Cameron took over after Labour Party leader Gordon Brown resigned, his party having been unable to form a coalition government with the smaller Liberal Democrat party after none of the three won a Parliamentary majority in last week’s voting. Political science Professor Graham Wilson, author of “Only in America? American Politics in Comparative Perspective,” says the obvious pairing politically would have been with Labour and Liberal Democrats, but that was being viewed as a coalition of the losers because the Conservatives actually won more seats.

“So it will be the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. It’s hard to see this partnership lasting long. This is an implausible coalition.”

]]>http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/11/cameron-new-british-p-m/feed/0Brit elections stalematedhttp://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/07/brit-elections-stalmated/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/07/brit-elections-stalmated/#commentsFri, 07 May 2010 16:30:12 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=5470And the winner is … no one. The most tightly contested British Parliamentary election in a generation has ended in the first stalemate since 1974, with no party winning an outright majority of seats that would enable it to choose a prime minister and form a ruling government. Frantic efforts are being made to shape some sort of coalition among the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat parties — which finished in that order. Political science Professor Graham Wilson, author of “Only in America? American Politics in Comparative Perspective” and who was in England to observe the election, says the results aren’t good for the country.

“Labour lost heavily, the Conservatives failed to win with every possible advantage, and the Liberal Democrats are dismayed their campaign success didn’t translate into votes or seats. Britain loses as there is no stable majority to back a government making tough economic choices.”

]]>http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/07/brit-elections-stalmated/feed/0British election showdownhttp://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/03/british-election-showdown/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/05/03/british-election-showdown/#commentsMon, 03 May 2010 15:14:07 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=5386The month-long British elections are in the homestretch headed for Thursday’s vote after a furious weekend of campaigning by Prime Minister Gordon Brown (r.) of the Labour party, Conservative party leader David Cameron (l.), and and Nick Clegg (center) of the upstart Liberal Democrats. Political science Professor Graham Wilson, a native of Great Britain who is in England this week to observe the finale, says it’s still too close to call.

“The momentum is with David Cameron and the Conservatives. But due to the bizarre workings of Britain’s electoral system, their lead isn’t enough yet to insure that they can win a majority and form a government. It’s still a cliff hanger.”

“It will be interesting to see what the other parties try as they get more desperate as the election approaches and the LD support remains strong. Look to Britain’s highly partisan newspapers to go negative with a vengeance in efforts to discredit Clegg and his party.”

“The economic events of the last two years and Gordon Brown’s personal unpopularity should have made this a cakewalk for the Conservatives. But they’ve so far failed to close the deal with voters and so the outcome is still wide open.”

]]>http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/04/06/brits-launch-brief-election-campaign/feed/0Global bank tax coming?http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/02/11/global-bank-tax-coming/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/02/11/global-bank-tax-coming/#commentsThu, 11 Feb 2010 22:24:52 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=4403British Prime Minister Gordon Brown predicts a global bank tax may by enacted as soon as this summer at the G-20 meeting of economic powers. Law Professor Daniel Berman, director of the Graduate Tax Program and a former U.S. Treasury deputy international tax counsel, says establishing such a tax could be harder than it sounds.

“When I worked for the Joint Committee on Taxation of the U.S. Congress 20 years ago we tried to develop a Securities Transactions Excise Tax (STET), but we couldn’t come up with a workable design. But if the same new tax is imposed globally, or at least across the G20, tax avoidance will be much more challenging.”

]]>http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2010/02/11/global-bank-tax-coming/feed/0Bad time for politics in Englandhttp://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2009/06/04/bad-time-for-politics-in-england/
http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/2009/06/04/bad-time-for-politics-in-england/#commentsThu, 04 Jun 2009 13:44:51 +0000http://blogs.bu.edu/bunow/?p=776After revelations of overblown expense accounts by members of Parliment and the resignations of several top cabinet ministers from P.M. Gordon Brown’s Labor government, Britain’s political system is hurting on election day today. College of Communication Associate Dean Tobe Berkovitz, a political communications expert teaching in BU’s London program, can put the English mess into the context of American politics.